Metal Welding Processes : An Overview

Hourly, period after period, you might make an effort to visualize all metals used during production yet never come close. Drive your automobile, head into an airplane, navigate on a boat, or simply reach into your refrigerator to find a little refreshment. Some component of some of those items has left its winding shape in the procedure involving metallic welding. It’s certainly not out of the question to say that if all the welds on the planet failed at the same time, the scrap pile would be what remained.

To simplify manufacturing, many different welding processes have been developed. The various strategies have certain criteria in common, though their similarities are mostly superficial. Two materials must reach a particular temperature so they will hold together when you weld them. The filler metal can be utilized or simply heat and pressure may be employed to achieve the desired outcome as with spot welding.

These welding processes will be found in pretty much any welding room or manufacturing plant. Today, we’re concerned with the welding processes that are common in any welding shop or manufacturing facility. The most elementary and most common welding process is gas welding. Oxygen is blended with various other gases (such as acetylene, propane, natural gas, and others) based on the type of metal being welded and the amount of heat being used. Gas cost, as well, is an influencing factor for this process as a few of these gases are rather expensive and unnecessary for many welding tasks.

These mixed gases are poured into a nozzle and then passed through a fire which is intermittently adjusted to heat the liquid to the ideal temperature. A filler rod is then adhered and poured simultaneously to complete the weld. In general, the filler rod is an uncoated tube, but at times it may include a double-coated tube.

That further weld process is called arc welding or electric arc welding and has been around for a long time. Basically a controlled electrical current is transmitted through a welding rod. These rods are generally covered with various kinds of protective materials that serve as an arc to shield the molten weld puddle. If the puddle were left exposed, it would become contaminated with atmospheric gases and create a weak or otherwise low quality weld.

The arc welding process has progressed significantly through the years to bring innovative alloys on board. The traditional two techniques are TIG, and MIG. In MIG welding, a spool of welding wire can be used as a filler material and destroyed during the process. As soon as the TIG procedure is complete, a tungsten tip is used to provide the arc required for melting the metal, but another filler is used up instead of the tungsten the tip off.

Using the Mig welding system, a welder can weld tape continuously without stopping to reload welding rods. The system utilizes a long coil of welding wire instead of short welding rods. Because the weld puddle is shielded by gas rather than flux-coated rods, the completed weld does not incorporate a slag that needs to be attacked away.

This welding approach is excellent for fine-grained metals and alloys, like aluminum alloys used to make cars. The nature of precision work involving exotic metals and aluminum alloys, such as during the design of a car carburetor, makes using the Tig system essential. The welding temperature can be progressively controlled with the Tig system. Above, you’ll see several welding processes in the done today. As more industrially relevant products and materials are engineered, new welding processes will be used to accommodate these new necessities.